Researchers at VA Puget Sound Health Care System are looking for volunteers for separate and potentially groundbreaking studies into a new medication that could arrest Alzheimer’s disease, and a new psychological intervention for post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Alzheimer’s study seeks 400 volunteers with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease to test an experimental medicine that attacks the root of the disease’s progression. The volunteers don’t have to be veterans.

“The evidence from basic research studies is compelling and merits further evaluation in a rigorous human clinical trial,” the study director, Douglas Galasko, a physician and professor of neurology at the University of California, San Diego, said in a press release.

“While most current Alzheimer’s disease therapies focus on the various symptoms of cognitive impairment, this trial is testing whether we can modify actual progression of the disease itself by targeting the interaction between amyloid beta and an important receptor in the brain,” Galasko said.

Inflammation in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s can be triggered by a buildup of plaques with a protein called amylooid beta that can damage nerve cells. The experimental drug is being tested to see if it can target the protein to prevent it from binding to a receptor in the brain called “rage” for “receptor for advanced glycation endoproducts,” VA officials said.

To learn how to participate in the study, contact NIA’s Alzheimer’s Disease Education and Referral (ADEAR) Center at 1-800-438-4380 or by email to adear@nia.nih.gov.

Meanwhile, the PTSD study seeks volunteers who are veterans with a previous medical diagnosis of PTSD, though they don’t have to be enrolled in the VA system for health care to participate.

The PTSD study involves a group psychological intervention called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, or MBSR for short, which more scientific literature indicates could significantly reduce stress and provide relief for veterans with PTSD.

The group intervention is currently being used by people with major depression, with the skills it teaches behind a 50 percent decrease in major depression relapses, VA official said.

The use of MBSR, however, has not been studied specifically for PTSD patients. One hope, VA officials say, it that the mental health benefits would include a decrease in relapses of depression, lessen emotional reactions, and potenitally lead to a decrease in substance abuse.

The program is taught by an MBSR-trained physician over eight weeks in a group of 25 to 30 patients. During meetings, participants learn to practice mindfulness skills like being in the present moment, paying better attention, being non-judgmental and using meditation and other stress and coping skills.

Classes start March 23 with a second session beginning in late May, and a third later in the summer.

There is no cost to veterans for the class and travel mileage will be reimbursed.

If you would like to participate in the PTSD study, call study coordinator Michelle Martinez at 206-277-1721 for more information.